ebooks – Page 25 – Rosepoint Publishing

Release Blitz – A Drummer in Red (Young America Book 1) by Gordon Saunders – @RABTBookTours #yahistoricalfiction

YA Historical Fiction

Published Date: 1-8-20

Publisher: INtense Publications LLC

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Lewis Elliot and his mother, Stella, are forced to flee their Baltimore home for the modest farm of their cousins in Gloucester County, Virginia. They arrive just as the feared Lord Cornwallis and the hated Colonel Banastre Carleton take up residence in Gloucester Point and across the York River in Yorktown. The war heats up as Cornwallis fortifies Yorktown and Carleton begins foraging raids in Gloucester County.

Then, while Lewis and his cousins, Lloyd and Tetty, are off to Gloucester Courthouse to try to sell enough tobacco to provide for the family, Carleton raids the farm and Stella receives a life-threatening injury.

Through battle, betrayal, unexpected alliances, and, apparently, the Hand ofGod, Lewis and his cousins and friends take a role in the events leading to Cornwallis’s surrender on October 19, 1781, after the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

My Review

What a delightful way to get in some history of the last vestiges of the war that marked our independence. A credible story of the time in this coming of age saga of the youngsters in the Revolutionary War of Gloucester County, Virginia.

Lewis Elliott is forced to join his cousins as Cornwallis takes up a position in Yorktown. Lewis’ older cousin Lloyd is eager to join the battle with his dad, while Tetty works with his Aunt Virginia to feed and care for their now extended family.

Lewis begins to assert himself in providing services where he can and meets a young French chef’s assistant. Together they go to gather crabs for the soldiers when a storm hits. Lewis has a better command of the French language than does Gilly. Together they are introduced later to Crispin, but who do you trust when there are spies and Loyalists?

Interesting lesson of the men as painted by the author, both good men and bad, a British officer counseling Lewis when Lewis acts out possibly endangering not only himself but others, “It’s not your private war.” But there are many lessons to be learned here, not just the history of the time and area, but that of trust, betrayal, love, death, friendship and survival. Lewis matures beyond his years and views his relatives and finally his dad with understanding, love, and forgiveness.

I can see a tremendous amount of research here, history in very palatable, relatable, and suspenseful fashion and enjoyed the information of the culture of tobacco as well as the oft-spoken French.

And the drummer. “The drummer means a parley,”…I didn’t know that!

I was given this digital download by the publisher and RABT Book Tours and appreciated the opportunity to read and review. An interesting read for any young adult.

About the Author

Growing up in Boston, and living in four countries in Europe over 25 years, gave Dr. Saunders a desire to know and share the history that’s shaped the world we live in today.

Contact Links

Publisher Links

The Poison of War by Jennifer Leeper – a CE #BookReview – Two-Hour #mysterythriller

Rosepoint Publishing: Five of Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Two Mexican drug smugglers are murdered on Native American soil and the only clues left behind are two single arrowheads in this compelling page-turner of tribal secrets and distrust at the border.

When detective Frank Silva of the Tohono O’odham Nation arrived at the scene of the crime he immediately feared his investigation would require him to turn inward—to his own people—in search of the killer.

A complex web of lies, love and intrigue in the heart of the reservation pulls readers into a place and time in limbo straddling the U.S.-Mexican border which is struggling to retain its heritage and independence.

Two maverick detectives form an intriguing team trusting each other with not only their lives, but with the fate of the Tohono O’odham Nation in the crime mystery.

The Poison of War, from award-winning author Jennifer Leeper, highlights the Tohono O’odham reservation’s evolving struggle against Mexican cartels and their friction with border agents who hold the line stretching across the middle of the reservation.

The novella’s setting of the American Southwest, particularly on a Native American reservation, and the style and cultural background of the detective protagonist draw resemblances to Tony Hillerman’s works including Dance Hall of the Dead and The Blessing Way.

For fans of Leeper’s work and fortuitous newcomers, The Poison of War is a stunning tale that highlights timely issues of the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration, drug trafficking and the reservation culture of the Tohono O’odham tribe.

His Review:

Solving two murders with old technology in the desert southwest is not easy. The native people in this area have lived here for centuries. There were no borders that defined their nation until recently. Jennifer pulls together the problem of drug running across native ancestral lands with no regard to the culture and the people who live there.

Frank Silva is a half-breed who is charged with protecting the land and solving a double murder.
A defunct “Indian Casino” is a beacon for the transfer of illegal drugs. The drug runners are ruthless.

In a land of cacti and wildflowers where does the detective begin? Jennifer pulls the narrative together in a very exciting way. Even footprints do not show up in this desolate landscape. And yet the crime has to be solved.
The result is a masterfully devised series of steps taken to finally find the killer. The narrative is fast-moving and never drags. It is a mystery lovers’ handbook for solving crime in the most desolate areas in the Southwest United States.

We received this digital download from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I can heartily recommend.

Book Details:

Genre: Native American Literature, Two-Hour Mystery-Thriller-Suspense, Vigilante Justice
Publisher: Prensa Press

ISBN-10:1733240209
ISBN-13:978-1733240208
ASIN: B081BB1HRK

Print Length: 67 pages
Publication Date: November 19, 2019
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Poison of War

The Author: Jennifer Leeper is an award-winning fiction author whose previous or forthcoming publications credits include Independent Ink Magazine, The Stone Hobo, Poiesis, Every Day Fiction, Aphelion Webzine, Heater Magazine, Cowboy Jamboree, The New Engagement, Alaska Quarterly Review, Falling Star Magazine and The Liguorian. She has had works published by J. Burrage Publications, Hen House Press, Inwood Indiana Press, Alternating Current Press, Barking Rain Press, Whispering Prairie Press, and Spider Road Press.
Ms. Leeper’s novella, The Poison of War, published through Prensa Press, spotlights the landscape of the American Southwest and Native American culture through this murder mystery that brings to the fore timely issues of the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration, drug trafficking and the reservation culture of the Tohono O’odham tribe of southern Arizona. The region carries special meaning for Ms. Leeper as she lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a child and even though she currently lives in Kansas City, the spirit of the Southwest region continues to shape her writing.

Short and Sweet–Does He Nail Those Reviews? You Tell Me.

Okay, Uncle! Need some help and looks like that will come in the guise of the CE. (Not the first time he’s stepped in to the rescue.)

Short Stack

Associate Reviewer - C E Williams For some time now, you’ve noticed either an individual review or a tandem review with my associate (husband), the CE. Since I’ve achieved overwhelmed status with reads and reviews, I’ve asked him to step in and take a somewhat more frequent role, with the hope that one of these days I’ll be able to write a post article again regarding the bookish world aside from reviews. While I may do just a tad of editing, the reviews will be his, although I’ll continue to set them up to publish.

To that end, he just reviewed ICE which has been named the Winner in the ACTION/ADVENTURE category of the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He loved it, by the way, and you can read his review here. (He’s a bit more succinct than I.) He will also cover a few genres I might not have creating a wider sampling range as he enjoys slightly different novel tastes. I’ve booked him up for the following three (including abbreviated blurbs) all from NetGalley: (Links below to Amazon)

Clyde's triplet

First up, The Poison of War by Jennifer Leeper

Two Mexican drug smugglers are murdered on Native American soil and the only clues left behind are two single arrowheads in this compelling page-turner of tribal secrets and distrust at the border…
Scheduled for Sunday, January 19.

The Master’s Apprentice: A Re-Telling of the Faust Legend by Oliver Pötzsch (Author) Lisa Reinhardt (Translator)

A young man’s destined quest becomes a dance with the devil in a mesmerizing retelling of the Faust legend by the bestselling author of the Hangman’s Daughter Tales series.

It’s the fifteenth century and only heretics are curious about the universe.

Germany, 1494. Born under a rare alignment of the stars, Johann Georg Gerlach, “the lucky one” to his mother—is fated for greatness. But Johann’s studies and wonder at the sky have made him suspect…

Scheduled for Friday Feb 7.

Anne and Louis: Rulers and Lovers (Anne of Brittany Series Book 3) by Rozsa Gaston

In 1501, Anne of Brittany devises the perfect match for her only child by Louis XII, King of France. Their daughter will become the most powerful woman in Europe if she marries the future Holy Roman Emperor. But Louis balks. Instead, he wishes her to marry his successor. How else to keep his own bloodline on the throne?…

Scheduled for Friday, February 14.

If you haven’t already, check out his review of Ice and then swing by again to catch one of the above. Have you read one of these?

ICE (Dr. Leah Andrews and Jack Hobson Thrillers Book 1) by Kevin Tinto – a #BookReview #technothrillers

The first review of the year by the CE.

Rosepoint Publishing: Five of Five Stars

Book Blurb:

We are writing with some fabulous news! ICE has been named the Winner in the ACTION/ADVENTURE category of the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Congratulations!”
Next Generation Indie Book Awards
The debut bestseller that has sold more than 400,000 Kindle and paperback versions!

ICE!
Archaeologist Leah Andrews stumbles upon something inexplicable in southwestern New Mexico: inside a dark cavern lies an undiscovered, Native American cliff dwelling abandoned for 800 years. While twisting through one of the narrow underground passageways, Leah’s flashlight illuminates the remains of a violent massacre.

Ancient human remains—all slaughtered in a long-ago massacre—cover the cavern floor, along with a number of brilliantly colored, granite crystals. The rare crystals are native to only one place on earth: a frozen mountain range in central Antarctica.

Could Native Americans have traveled to the frozen continent of Antarctica 800 years prior to the first known human exploration? If so how? And why?

There’s only one person who can get Leah to those mountains in Antarctica: her estranged husband and climbing guide Jack Hobson.

At their destination, they make a stunning discovery that will change history and science forever. But Leah’s team is far from the only interested party.

As her secret makes its way to the highest levels of government, a race to seize the Russian-claimed Antarctic territory brings the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.

My Review:

This book is very hard to put down. Dr. Leah Andrews is a fired archaeologist who has been ordered not to go into the Gila National Wilderness. Our government’s continued seclusion of “Our National Lands” pulls into painful focus the seclusion of areas that “we the people” are not free to roam.

A hither-to-fore unknown and unspoiled cliff dwelling leads to an adventure upon many continents. I was immediately enveloped in a question of why a nationally recognized scientist could not even visit this monument. Does the government have multi-billionaires who are the only ones allowed to do the research, while the rest of our citizenry are restricted to the periphery?

Geological artifacts lead from Arizona to Antarctica. This book features two very strong and estranged people pulled together to solve an 800-year-old mystery. Add in a President whos’ Secretary of the Interior is looking for the answer to the riddle uncovered by Leah and the result is a first-rate international mystery.

The rescue of an old B29 in Antarctica adds spice to the tale. Add Russian interest in this relic and you will be totally involved as I was. CE Williams free from BookBub

Book Details:

Genre: Technothrillers, Science Fiction Romance, Native American Literature
Publisher: Three Dog Publishing, LTD

ISBN-10:0692406379
ISBN-13:978-0692406373
ASIN: B01557MW80

Print Length: 460 pages
Publication Date: September 20, 2015
Source: Publisher and BookBub
Title Link: ICE

The Author: [Kevin Tinto] I am a full-time writer based in Tiburon, California. Just finishing the third and final book in the ICE Trilogy Series: ICE Revelation.

http://www.writingthrillers.com

A Cry in the Night (Detective Jessica Daniel thriller series Book 15 by Kerry Wilkinson – a #BookReview #thriller

Book Blurb:

‘Mom?’ The word caught in the boy’s throat. She didn’t try to speak, didn’t roll towards him. She didn’t move at all.

In the middle of the night, fourteen-year-old Samuel is woken by the sound of a terrified scream from the kitchen of his home on a quiet street. The police – finding him sobbing on the kitchen floor, cradling his mother’s lifeless body – hit a dead end before the investigation has even begun: because although he witnessed the murder, Samuel is blind.

But when Detective Jessica Daniel meets the boy, the way he uses just his sense of sound to accurately locate her hand to shake it convinces her that this clever young teenager could hold the key to the entire case. Her team disagrees, but Jessica will do whatever it takes to get justice for the innocent.

Samuel’s description of an intruder he heard walking with a limp leads Jessica to an isolated seaside town, where a well-liked local man has been missing for days. Breaking into his house, Jessica finds him lying flat on the bed, a bullet wound under his chin.

Digging into the victim’s work records, Jessica uncovers a secret he shared with Samuel’s mother, and it’s clear she was terrified for her son’s safety. As Jessica pushes the boundaries to get closer to the truth, her most trusted colleague warns that she needs to watch her step… but Jessica won’t stop until she’s found the killer. Her career may be on the line, but so is Samuel’s life.

An absolutely unputdownable thriller, packed with twists and turns, perfect for fans of Robert Dugoni, Rachel Caine and Kendra Elliot. A Cry in the Night is just one of the many page-turning reads in the Jessica Daniel series. Each can be read as a standalone.

My Review:

I really like Jessica Daniel. She feels genuine. She pushes boundaries, has her gains and losses, but is generally an efficient detective inspector who gets her man (or woman, as the case may be). She reminds me somewhat of the character Danny in Blue Bloods–edgy but effective. It may be her droll sense of humor, that biting wit, that lightens the sensitive issues, but she can usually detect the line drawn that shouldn’t be crossed.

In Book 15, there is a blind fourteen-year old who “witnesses” the violent death of his mother. He is a keen observant who uses echolocation that helps him share the scene with the police. While Jessica had not actually seen the phenomenon before and has some misgivings as to how accurately his descriptions are, she is nonetheless impressed.

There is also something else, unrelated to the cases she and partner Detective Constable Archie Davey are handling. Archie is acting weird, causing tension between the two of them, blowing hot and cold. What is going on with him?!

Author Wilkinson weaves a clever, suspense-driven and well-plotted storyline focusing on Jessica and investigation progress, but again, for me, it’s the characters and the free and easy prose-filled descriptions given to them as well as the people of Manchester that drive the story. The banter between characters lends the authentic feeling of overhearing their actual dialogue. The depiction of Grimsby is priceless. (My grandfather spent a year fishing with the men there and dedicated his book Sons of the Sea to them.)

The conclusion results in a mixed bag of explanations, anxiety, and strongly hints at the story arc for Book 16, along with cliffhanging situations that resulted in my going back to see if I’d missed a page, that last one being so abrupt. The cliffhanger is a douzy and while this one may function fine as a standalone, you may wish to get this one for sure so you will be ready for Book 16.

I was given this digital download by the publisher and NetGalley and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read and review. I really enjoy this series, love these characters, and now anxiously looking forward to Book 16…what happens??!

Book Details:

Genre: Financial Thrillers, Heist Thrillers, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Bookouture
ASIN: B081753ZP4
Print Length: 356 pages
Publication Date: To be released January 15, 2020
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: A Cry in the Night

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five of Five Stars

The Author: Kerry Wilkinson has had No.1 crime bestsellers in the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Singapore. He has also written two top-20 thrillers in the United States. His book, Ten Birthdays, won the RNA award for Young Adult Novel of the Year in 2018.

As well as his million-selling Jessica Daniel series, Kerry has written the Silver Blackthorn trilogy – a fantasy-adventure serial for young adults – a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter, plus numerous standalone novels. He has been published around the world in more than a dozen languages.

Originally from the county of Somerset, Kerry has spent far too long living in the north of England, picking up words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’.

When he’s short of ideas, he rides his bike, hikes up something, or bakes cakes. When he’s not, he writes it all down.

Recent and upcoming UK releases:
The Unlucky Ones (Jessica Daniel 14): 9 July 2019
Close To You: 17 October 2019
A Cry In The Night (Jessica Daniel 15): 15 Jan 2020

Find out more at: http://kerrywilkinson.com or http://facebook.com/KerryWilkinsonBooks

A Criminal Justice (Philadelphia Legal) by William L Myers Jr. a #BookReview #legalthriller

Book Blurb:

A man in prison for murder. One woman wants him freed. One woman wants him dead.

Mick McFarland is stunned when he’s arrested for murdering business tycoon Edwin Hanson, brother to David Hanson—one of Mick’s former clients. Mick is even more shocked when he’s confronted with the incriminating evidence: surveillance footage of him stalking the victim and pulling the trigger.

As Mick’s legal team fights against windmills trying to beat the prosecution in court, his wife, Piper, journeys across the country, trying to win her husband’s freedom by going after the man she is convinced is out to destroy Mick and David both. What she doesn’t anticipate is that David’s wife, Marcie, is on a similar mission to shelter her own husband. And the two women may not be on the same side.

Piper has it all right…and all wrong. And her time is running out. Will she be able to save her husband from conviction and clear his name?

My Review:

Well, shucks, this being my third book of the series of four, I missed the first and perhaps that was where all the original backstories were harbored. This entry to the series brings back a few of the support characters from previous books, including Piper (Mick’s wife) Vaughn and Susan (firm associate and partner), and kept in the background, the crime family Nunzio (this time Catherine). Mick McFarland is the one on trial this time…but, he didn’t do it, you know.

In addition to protagonist McFarland, there is a large cast of characters. This narrative hones in on his brother Tommy and old nemesis Detective John Tredesco, along with Tredesco’s newish partner, delicious red-headed Murphy. Tredesco is pretty delighted with his collar of McFarland, as I said, no love lost there, and after the search and seizure of incriminating evidence feels the case is locked. Murphy is not so sure. I liked Tommy and Murphy as both had a rough background, hers being ex-military with conflict experience. You knew, despite the age difference, sparks would eventually fly.

The well-plotted book, however, won’t focus with blinders on Mick’s innocence and in a wild effort to divert attention is caught up in a complex conspiracy that is a great deal more far-reaching, involving computer geniuses and a multi-billion dollar tech company. The victim is Edwin Hanson, the brother of David Hanson, with whom McFarland had previous legal court proceedings. That trial regarding the killing of a reporter has come back to haunt Mick and the firm.

While McFarland languishes in the slammer with a Ukrainian of dubious distinction, Piper is out beating every red herring she confronts leaving Susan floundering on defense strategy. Tommy and Murphy are trying to run down a possible witness and get to know each other better. Other characters, all too happy to see Mick cooling his heels behind bars are thrown in the mix and the plot gets more and more complicated.

My favorite part is the court scenes and the dialogue, although it isn’t until near the end that Mick takes over his own defense (usually a capital mistake–see how I did that? pun intended). Then that strategy and brilliant cunning begin to form and it’s easy to see Richard Gere (from the musical Chicago) in your minds’ eye, tap-dancing to the course he sets. And I did certainly enjoy the short treatise on CGI (computer-generated image).

My lesser favorite part of this trip was the length of the dance. Rather slow to start and then repetition of facts and theories with little progress forward. Rather like a tangle of rattlesnakes, there is love and hate from one group or another, greed, revenge, overwhelming guilt, and resolution. The conclusion winds down with the same pace but leaves a kind of bewildering…huh…

I received this digital download from the publisher and NetGalley and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read Book 4 of the series. Recommended for those who enjoy complex, well-drawn, and unique legal thrillers and I’d certainly welcome another.

Book Details:

Genre: Crime Thrillers, Legal Thrillers, Organized Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Thomas and Mercer

ISBN-10:1542005531
ISBN-13:978-1542005531
ASIN: B07M9KDSL8

Print Length: 391 pages
Publication Date: March 17, 2020
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: A Criminal Justice

Rosepoint Publishing: Four of Five Stars

The Author: William L. Myers, Jr. is the No. 6 best-selling author for Amazon Kindle in 2017 for his debut novel, A Criminal Defense. That was the first in what has become the Philadelphia Legal Series. The third book in that series, A Killers Alibi debuts February 19, 2019. A Killer’s Alibi has had rave early reviews including New York Times Bestselling author, Bill Lasher–

“William Myers’ riveting new novel is not just a crackerjack legal thriller, it is a wrenching portrayal of a whole range of farther-daughter relations, showing how they can damage, how they can nourish, how they go dangerously off track. A story not to be missed.”

Born in 1958 into a blue-collar family, Mr. Myers inherited a work-ethic that propelled him through college and into the Ivy League at The University of Pennsylvania School of Law. From there, Mr. Myers started his legal career in a Philadelphia-based mega defense firm. After ten years defending corporate America, he realized his heart wasn’t in it. So, with his career on the fast track to success–he gave it all up and started his own firm. It was time to start fighting for the common guy.

That was twenty-five years ago and since then, he has focused on representing railroad employees and other honest, hard-working people who have been injured by others. He has represented thousands of clients in his tenure and has become a highly-regarded litigation attorney up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

For more information visit his author website at: http://www.williamlmyersjr.com

Welcome 2020 (Good Riddance 2019) and Happy New Year to You All!

Welcome 2020

I am so thrilled you are here to celebrate the beginning of a new year with me and hoping yours gets off to a wonderful start with exciting events in your future. I am not sorry to see 2019 gone (or the decade), which was one of turmoil for us. I’m sure twenty-twenty will kick off better times, a fresh start, hopeful beginnings. For you too!

My December, as yours, was fast and furious! But I did manage thirteen reviews among a spotlight and related posts.

Rosepoint Reviews for December

The Dog on the Acropolis by Mark Tedesco

The Ghost of Christmas Past by Angie Fox

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt

If you missed any of my full reviews, just click the link below. I reviewed twelve books in December, two were audiobooks (from my library via OverDrive), some are part of a series, many of those from NetGalley.

A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni
Verse and Vengeance by Amanda Flower
No Man’s Land by Sara Driscoll
The Other People by C J Tudor
Two Good Dogs by Susan Wilson (audiobook)
Christmas on the Home Front by Roland Moore (TV series Land Girls)
Hands Up by Stephen Clark (author request)
Bookmarked for Murder by V M Burns
The Dog on the Acropolis by Mark Tedesco
The Ghost of Christmas Past by Angie Fox
Sealed Off by Barbara Ross
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt (audiobook)
Shattered Justice by Susan Furlong (posted December 31st)

Since I’ve bumped up against a number of series now that I can’t wait to get back to, I’ve determined to look for additional books (also from my library) in either digital or print form, and I’m planning on a later post to delineate my favorites, a few of which turned out to on NetFlix. How great is that?

Challenges!

Are y’all into challenges? I’ve normally participated in three: the Goodreads Challenge, the NetGalley Challenge, and the Alphabet Challenge. This year I apparently lost all sense of reality and signed up for five (or not):

Audiobook – I’m signing up for Stenographer level–10-15 (Got my cheapy earbuds all charged.)
Goodreads – I’ll be staying with 170
Historical Fiction – I should be comfortable with 10 books–Renaissance Reader
NetGalley – I’ll be going for Gold-50. (I attained my 200 [reviews] badge!)
Reading Ireland – 10 (Links to 2019 challenge)
and Bingo (one card?) This is the Murder Mystery Bingo Reading Challenge

Bingo? Really? Is that the equivalent of the Alphabet Challenge (where I always missed Q, X, and Z)? Still, this is the time of year to start looking around to join the challenge of your choice and there are some very fun challenges out there! Most reading challenges run from Jan 1 – Dec 31. Lynne at Fictionophile posted a master list of challenges. You might want to check it out here.

Here are a few results from my 2019 Goodreads Challenge:

I read 49,236 pages across 171 books

AVERAGE LENGTH

287 pages

MOST POPULAR – 64,261

people also read The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Key

by Ruth Ware

Across the River by Richard Bruce Snodgrass

LEAST POPULAR

0 people also read

Across the River by Richard Bruce Snodgrass

clink glasses Here is hoping all who read this has a happy and healthy New Year! And, as always, thank you! I appreciate your follows and comments!

V Williams martini glass

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (An Andy Carpenter Mystery Book 15) by David Rosenfelt – a #BookReview #Audiobook

Rosepoint Publishing: Five of Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter usually tries to avoid taking on new cases at all costs. But this time, he’s happy – eager, even – to take the case that’s just come his way. Andy’s long-time friend Martha “Pups” Boyer takes in stray puppies that the local dog rescue center can’t handle, raises them until they’re old enough to adopt, and then finds good homes for them. Not everyone admires the work Pups does as much as Andy does, however.

With Christmas just around the corner, one of Pups’s neighbors has just reported Pups to the city for having more than the legal number of pets in her home under the local zoning laws. Andy happily takes Pups’s case, and he feels confident in a positive outcome. Who could punish someone for rescuing puppies, after all, especially at Christmastime? But things get a lot more complicated when Randy Hennessey, the neighbor who registered the complaint against Pups, turns up dead. Pups had loudly and publicly threatened Hennessey after he filed his complaint, and Pups was also the one to find his body. All the evidence seems to point to Pups as the killer, and suddenly Andy has a murder case on his hands. He doesn’t believe Pups could be guilty, but as he starts digging deeper into the truth behind Hennessey’s murder, Andy may find himself facing a killer more dangerous than he ever imagined.

With his trademark wit, larger-than-life characters, and clever plotting, David Rosenfelt delivers another gripping mystery.

My Review:

As you can see, I’ve burned through five of the Andy Carpenter series of twenty books. Loved them all, four of which were audiobooks. While I greatly enjoyed Dachshund Through the Snow (the digital download I received from NetGalley), I’ve really become a solid fan of the audiobooks narrated by Grover Cleveland. Cleveland is the definitive voice of attorney Andy Carpenter–the defense attorney who would rather not take on any cases. The cases, however, seem to find him.

Three of these entries to the series were aimed at the Christmas season, a wonderful excuse for unapologetically grabbing as many as I could. This one concerns twelve puppies brought to Tara’s Foundation by Andy as the woman who had rescued them was charged with the murder of a neighbor. He had filed a complaint with the local zoning board about the number of pets she had in her home and then turned up dead.

The timing is unfortunate, as Martha has been doing this for years, but now she is facing mortality and would prefer not to spend the time she has left behind bars. Her hubby passed a few years ago leaving her with land located in assorted states, eventually for the purpose of the canine (or animal) rescue mission they both embraced.

The characters have been carefully gathered and create a variety of eclectic support for Andy, as well as his wife, Laura, a former policewoman. Andy keeps up a steady mind dialogue that is frank and often humorous. His snarky attitude is not lost on his colleagues and the time he’s spent in court has given him a well-deserved reputation. Like a pit bull that he might have rescued, once he’s onto something he’ll concentrate through the red herrings and twists to get to the real perp, tweaking by a la Perry Mason where it counts.

The narrative includes his family, son Ricky, and common familial situations, drawing you into Andy’s life as well as his legal expertise. These books are engaging with complex, well-drawn plots that are fully investing. While it’s character-driven, the author’s deprecating but intelligent writing style keeps you immersed. This one is full of the Christmas season, puppies, and witty and entertaining storyline.

I received this audiobook from my local library (thank you!) and was thoroughly entertained and invested. Grover Gardner does an incredible job of interpreting the very excellent novel penned by David Rosenfelt. In a spin-off from his Andy Carpenter series, author Rosenfelt has started a new series he is calling The K-Team “about a dynamic new investigative team featuring a determined former cop and his loyal German Shepherd.” YES! Book 1 of The K-Team will be released March 24, 2020, currently available via NetGalley. Now is your chance to grab #1 in a new series, Shalini. Your welcome.

This one is still totally recommended for anyone looking for an unpredictable and amusing hoot. Whether audio or digital, either way, you’re in for a real treat.

Book Details:

Narrator: Grover Gardner
Genre: Animal Fiction, Traditional Detective Mysteries, Legal Thriller
Publisher: Macmillian Audio
ASIN: B01LZAPOAO
Listening Length: 6 hrs 17 mins
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Source: Local Library audiobooks
Title Link: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas

The Author: (Amazon Author Page) David Rosenfelt, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, is a graduate of NYU. He was the former marketing president for Tri-Star Pictures before becoming a writer of novels and screenplays. “Open And Shut” was his first novel; “First Degree,” his second novel, was named a best book of 2003 by Publishers Weekly. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife and 35 dogs.

(Goodreads Author Page) I am a novelist with 27 dogs.

I have gotten to this dubious position with absolutely no planning, and at no stage in my life could I have predicted it. But here I am.

My childhood was relentlessly normal. The middle of three brothers, loving parents, a middle-class home in Paterson, New Jersey. We played sports, studied sporadically. laughed around the dinner table, and generally had a good time. By comparison, “Ozzie and Harriet’s” clan seemed bizarre.

I graduated NYU, then decided to go into the movie business. I was stunningly brilliant at a job interview with my uncle, who was President of United Artists, and was immediately hired. It set me off on a climb up the executive ladder, culminating in my becoming President of Marketing for Tri-Star Pictures. The movie landscape is filled with the movies I buried; for every “Rambo”, “The Natural” and “Rocky”, there are countless disasters.

I did manage to find the time to marry and have two children, both of whom are doing very well, and fortunately neither have inherited my eccentricities.

A number of years ago, I left the movie marketing business, to the sustained applause of hundreds of disgruntled producers and directors. I decided to try my hand at writing. I wrote and sold a bunch of feature films, none of which ever came close to being actually filmed, and then a bunch of TV movies, some of which actually made it to the small screen. It’s safe to say that their impact on the American cultural scene has been minimal.

About fourteen years ago, my wife and I started the Tara Foundation, named in honor of the greatest Golden Retriever the world has ever known. We rescued almost 4,000 dogs, many of them Goldens, and found them loving homes. Our own home quickly became a sanctuary for those dogs that we rescued that were too old or sickly to be wanted by others. They surround me as I write this. It’s total lunacy, but it works, and they are a happy, safe group.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidr…

The Narrator: Grover Gardner’s narration career spans twenty-five years and over 550 audiobook titles. AudioFile Magazine has called him one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and features him in their annual “Golden Voices” update. Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2005. His recordings have garnered 18 “Golden Earphones” awards from AudioFile and an Audie Award from the Audio Publishers’ Association.
http://grovergardner.blogspot.com/